Swinburne, Algernon Charles

Swinburne was born on April 5, 1837 in London on Chester Street, home 7. He was the eldest of six children in the family of captain (later admiral ) Charles Henry Swinburne and Lady Jane Henrietta, daughter of Earl Ashburnam. Swinburne grew up in the small village of Bonchurch on the Isle of Wight . From 1849 to 1853 he studied at Eaton College , where he first began to write poetry, then from 1856 to 1860, with small interruptions (from 1859 to May 1860, Swinburne was temporarily expelled from college as punishment) he studied at Oxford Beylliol College University .

Swinburne spent his summer vacations in Northumberland , in the house of his grandfather, Sir John Swinburne ( 1762 - 1860 ), in Capheaton Hall. The house had a famous library - his grandfather was the president of the Literary and Philosophical Society in Newcastle upon Tyne . Swinburne considered Northumberland his hometown, his feelings reflected in such patriotic poems as Northumberland, Grace Darling and others. He loved to ride his pony through fields covered with heather, and considered a fearless rider. Swinburne never called these fields the border of Scotland .

In 1857-1860, Swinburne became one of the members of the intellectual circle of Lady Pauline Trevelyan in Wellington Hall, and after the death of his grandfather in 1860, he stayed with William Bell for a while in Newcastle. In December 1862, Swinburne, along with Bell Scott and his guests — perhaps even Dante Gabriel Rossetti among them — made a trip to Tynmouth . Scott wrote in his memoirs that when they passed near the sea , Swinburne read his poems - which had not yet been published - with some unusual intonation; as if the waves "ran full length on the sand to the shores of Callercoats and sounded like distant greetings."

While studying at the University, Swinburne talked with the Pre-Raphaelites , his best friend was Dante Gabriel Rossetti. After college, he lived in London, where he began to write poetry actively. Rossetti was delighted with his "little Northumberland friend."

His poetic works include: Atalanta in Calydon ( 1865 ), Poems and Ballads, First Series ( Poems and Ballads I , 1866 ), Songs before Sunrise , 1871 ), “Poems and Ballads”, Second Series ( Eng. Poems and Ballads II , 1878 ), “Tristram of Lyonesse” ( Eng. Tristram of Lyonesse , 1882 ), “Poems and Ballads”, Third Series ( Eng. Poems and Ballads III , 1889 ), as well as the novel “Lesbia Brandon” ( English Lesbia Brandon ), which was published posthumously.

"Poems and ballads." The first series caused a real sensation when it was first published; especially poems written with respect to the famous ancient Greek poet Sappho of Lesbos , such as Anactoria and Sapphics. Other poems in this collection, such as The Leper , The Praise of Venus ( Laus Veneris ) and The Holy Dorothy ( English Dorothy ) evoke admiration for the Victorian and Middle Ages , and this is clearly seen in brilliant medieval style, tone and design. These traits can also be seen in Hymn to Proserpine , The Triumph of Time, and Dolores (Notre-Dame des Sept Douleurs ).

Swinburne came up with the rondello poem (a variation of the French rondeau poem ( fr. Rondeau ), which was used in A Century of Roundels poem dedicated to Cristina Rossetti .

Swinburne suffered from alcoholism and alcoholism, and he also had a very excitable character. As a result, in 1879, at the age of 42, Swinburne suffered physical and mental ill health. After that, he was taken under his care by his friend Theodore Watts , who looked after him until the end of his life in the suburbs of London Putney . Subsequently, he lost the youthful spirit of rebellion, and he turned into a respectable figure. Swinburne died in southwestern London of the flu on April 10, 1909 at the age of 72, and was buried in St. Boniface's Church in Bonchurch on the Isle of Wight, where he spent his childhood.

Swinburne is believed to have been a decadent , but perhaps he talked more about vices than actually condoned them.

Owning a word , rhyme and meter put Swinburne on a par with the most talented English poets, but he was criticized for his ornate style and choice of words, which was more suitable only for rhyme schemes than for understanding the meaning. The famous English critic George Saintsbury in his famous work “The History of English Versification”, Volume III ( Eng. A history of English prosody, III ) wrote a lot about Swinburne.

At one time, Swinburne’s work was very popular among students at Oxford and Cambridge , but now his fashion has passed. This is influenced by the historical context associated with the consensus between the reader and the academic community regarding Swinburne’s work, although critics have always been supportive of such works as Poems and Ballads, First Series and Atalanta in Calydon.

The fact that the two books of Swinburne, published when he was only 30 years old, made him the public perception of the first poet in England and the successor of great poets such as Lord Alfred Tennyson and Robert Browning , rather played a negative role in his life. Until his death, Swinburne was perceived in exactly this way, although, according to, for example, such a sophisticated critic as Alfred Eduard Houseman , the title of one of the greatest poets in England was an overwhelming burden for Swinburne.

After the first series of Poem and Ballads, Swinburne’s later poetry focuses more on philosophy and politics (especially the unification of Italy , in particular in the collection Songs Before Sunrise). He did not stop writing love lyrics (including his epic poem Tristram of Lioness), but the content was already less shocking. His versification, especially the rhyming technique, remained in its best form until the very last days.

Maupassant, who was personally acquainted with him, noting that he “is one of the first poets of his time in terms of originality of fiction and amazing sophistication of form” wrote about him in the article “An Englishman from Etretat ” ^[5] :

• Garden of Proserpine. Poems. Translation, foreword and notes by G. Ben . St. Petersburg, 2003.
• I pray, have time to heed my poems ... / Heel Well This Rhyme Before Your Pleasure Tire ... Moscow, 2012. Translations of M. Donskoy , B. Pasternak , G. Ben , V. Rogov and others.

• Pre-Raphaelitism
• Decadence

• Swinburn A. Ch. "Garden of Proserpine"
• Swinburn A. Ch. “The book began” (inaccessible link)
• Swinburn A. Ch. "Night watch"
• Algernon Charles Swinburne - biographical information and translations by Alexander Lukyanov
• Algernon Swinburne works in the Gutenberg project
• The Literary & Philosophical Society (Lit & Phil)
• Photo of Swinburne’s grave on the Isle of Wight